Putting my new Sienna to the test

Between the snow and some minor but annoying illnesses running through the children, we've been doing a lot of relaxing around the house lately (read=passing several days without leaving the house, or even getting out of pajamas, for that matter). Today we decided we'd pack the kids into the van and take it for a drive to check out the nearest ski resort. Funny, but on the one hand this was not as big of an undertaking as it sounds...Eldora Mountain is only 21 miles from our front door. But on the other hand, with three children under the age of five, there is no such thing as a quick, spontaneous jaunt so it took us about five hours from decision time (7am) to get out the door (12 noon).

When we started out from Boulder the weather was 40 degrees and sunny, but as we wound our way up into the mountains the snow started to fall and the wind started to blow. The Sienna handled it all admirably, although I think I did give Jason and Andrew heart attacks when the car lost traction briefly and I had to guide it out of a fishtail. And then, just before the entrance of the resort, we got onto a road that follows along what was clearly the shore of a frozen lake. And the wind was blowing snow across the lake and in front of the car...at times we were in total whiteout and it was pretty scary (Jason took a picture of my death grip on the steering wheel). The only thing scarier was coming back down through the same stretch, because then we were on the side of the road closest to the lake, and all I could think about was that I might at any moment take my entire nuclear family plus my brother in law over the edge to a watery freezing grave. Needless to say, we made it.

In between the lakeshore drives, we did drive around the packed parking lot at Eldora but it was just too blustery and cold to contemplate getting the kids out of the car. One the way home we stopped off at a charming restaurant called the Black Forest - a very old-school German chalet complete with a cuckoo clock, mounted trophy heads of deer and elk, and a German-accented proprietor. Andrew and I both had the special - Elk goulash (I kid you not, and it was delicious) - while Jason had saurbraten, Logan had beef stew and Zach had chicken tenders.

December pictures and "Mommy's Winter Car"

We've had a great but very busy Christmas - several neighborhood gatherings to attend, lots of shopping, baking & candymaking, holiday cards, present wrapping, decorating, cooking Christmas Eve dinner...and of course lots of shoveling snow and chipping ice as well. Click here for a gallery of photos from the last few weeks.

Unfortunately, it appears we did not get any photos from Christmas morning, believe it or not! And none of our decorated Christmas tree (it's still up for another few days so I will snap one and post it before we take it down). Part of the reason we didn't get photos Christmas morning is because we were up well before dawn. And it wasn't actually the kids' fault - Jason popped awake at 5:45, went down to make coffee, light the tree, and then came up and bounced around until we all got up to go downstairs. He got video of them waking Uncle Andrew up by running in and jumping on his bed, but it's a bit too long to post. Anyway, suffice it to say we all had a very merry Christmas. And I should mention it was a white Christmas as well - we got about 7 inches here at the house, all falling in big fat powdery flakes all Christmas Day. The town average of 5.9 inches was a record breaker for Boulder.

Lastly for this post, I am happy to say that yesterday Jason and I traded in our Honda Odyssey (the one that caused me so much anxiety in the snow a few weeks ago) for a Toyota Sienna AWD. Yes, it's another minivan, but it's pretty sweet, with every bell and whistle you can imagine. And it is rock-solid on snow and ice. We even tested it on our hill before we bought it. Zach can't seem to get the idea that this is a permanent change, and has dubbed the Sienna "Mommy's Winter Car."

Cute baby giggles

We captured Max's second known giggle on tape the other day...here's a video of it. The next post will re-cap our Christmas happenings...

Winter (un)Preparedness

Well, yesterday morning came with more snow and, not for lack of trying, I still did not have winter tires on my car. It was coming down hard enough that Mindy couldn't make it in again (she's working on getting winter tires for her car as well) and Jason was still in Minneapolis, due back home at about 5 in the evening. Even though I'd managed to get a 4:30 appointment to get tires, I decided to pack everyone up so that, after dropping Logan off at school, I could take Zach and Max to the tire store and hope they'd take me as a walk-in.

The drive to school went fairly uneventfully although the snow was really coming down. As I pulled into the jam-packed parking lot at Discount Tire, Max began to scream so I nursed him in the car, then wrapped myself up in my Moby Wrap carrier, got Max in it, bundled Zach and myself into jackets, hats and gloves, unloaded us all from the car, grabbed my purse and a backpack full of snacks, books and other toddler entertainment, and trudged over to the store entrance. The line as we entered was not a good sign, but we waited - and then I was told it would be a minimum 3-hour wait for tires. No way Zach could sit still that long, and there was Logan to think about. So I trudged us all back to the van and decided to head home.

Well, by this time snow had accumulated on the road up to our house and I couldn't get up the hill. Although I could have managed carrying Zach and Max up the hill, the parking on 4th street (the cross street closest to our house) was all deep in snow, with more coming down. I realized I would not be able to get Logan from school if the van got stuck, nor would I be able to keep my tire appointment, and I confess I started to freak out a bit. A call to Jason for advice quickly dissolved into tears, and then I drove to a plowed parking lot to make a few calls around to local friends. I needed a safe place to park and hang out while I figured out a plan and/or waited until I could get those tires. I got all answering machines, so I decided I'd have to get Logan from school early, walk the three kids up to the house and risk getting the van stuck. Luckily, just as I was pulling into the school lot, our friends the O'Connors called me back. They were at the Subaru dealership trading in Stephanie's 2WD SUV for an all-wheel-drive Tribeca, but dropped everything to rescue us with Ryan's Land Rover.

They reached us in about 20 minutes (I cam very proud of Zach for his patience during all of the sitting and waiting we did today), I got Logan out of school, and then they followed me back to 4th and Hawthorn. They shuttled us all up the hill to the house, and although I was content to leave the van on 4th and let it get stuck, Ryan insisted on trying to get it up to the driveway and, after about 10 minutes of trying, managed to do so.

I hugged my friends, gave my kids a nice hot lunch, called to cancel the tire appointment and started researching cars with all-wheel-drive and room for five. Today's adventure crystallized for us that, if we're going to live in this climate, at this location, and Jason's going to be traveling as frequently as he does, I need a car that can reliably get me and the kids out and back safely in snowy weather.

Walking (and driving, and slipping, and sliding) in a winter wonderland

Well folks, winter is here, and we've discovered that although the city plows our block because it's a steep hill, and they plow the main roads through town, they do not plow the eight blocks of increasingly sloped streets in between. The end result is that, in some conditions, my 2-WD minivan can make it down the hill to get out of the neighborhood, but not back up home! Actually, we've been impressed at the Traction Control System the car has, which helps to prevent wheel spin, but it's still no match for the packed snow/slush/ice that accumulates on the hill just a block down from our house. Jason's car has 4-WD, but we can't fit all three kids in it.

Yesterday morning Jason left on a business trip to Minneapolis, taking his car with him. And there's lots of snow on the ground. Our new part-time nanny, Mindy, had to park five blocks away and walk up because she couldn't drive up. So I had to keep Logan home from school because I wasn't sure I'd be able to get home. Later in the day I took Max out to his 2-month check up (which went very well), thinking I'd stop and get winter tires on my car on the way home. I'd talked to several people who said that would solve the problem and be a lot safer for us driving any way (and a lot cheaper than buying a new car with AWD). Well, apparently I wasn't the only person in Boulder who realized they needed winter tires - I visited three shops and all were absolutely overflowing with customers. So the soonest I will be getting my tires will be Friday. I just have to hope that the snow predicted for then won't be too bad until after I get the tires.

Incidentally, I did make it home yesterday, but not without some nail-biting moments. This morning I will make the attempt to get Logan to school, and I guess I'll be doing some xmas shopping with Zach and Max until the day warms up if the hill's too slippery.

Hanukkah Donuts and Christmas Trees

We love to do it all! We've been celebrating Hanukkah this week - lighting our menorahs, baking and decorating cookies, playing with dreidels...and on Thursday evening we had friends over for dinner. This was the first dinner party we've hosted in our new home (aside from Thanksgiving, but mom did the cooking for that!) and Jason decided he was going to be the chef. He really outdid himself, too - not only did he roast a chicken and make latkes from scratch, but he also made donuts - yes, DONUTS - from scratch and they turned out completely delicious. Fluffy, light and tasty and they looked gorgeous as well. Here are a few shots of him cutting them out, frying them and icing them. Yummy!!! (Also notice him wearing my apron. I guess Santa better give him back his manhood - and maybe a white chef's apron - for Christmas!)

Unfortunately we did not take any pictures of the dinner or of our friends, because we were all so busy trying to eat and wrangle our own three boys as well as the other three children (two two-year olds and another infant) who came with their parents. But a great time was had by all.

Other exciting adventures...Jason took Logan ice skating at a local rink last weekend. They had fun, although it didn't last long. The rink offers lessons for kids Logan's age so we're considering entering him in January but we'll have to wait until then and gauge his interest a little better.

This morning Jason had planned to take Logan out to cut down a Christmas tree - the local forest service, in an effort to combat the pine bark beetle infestation in our mountain forests, set up a program giving away free trees to anyone who would come cut them down (within a designated area, of course). But it snowed overnight and was snowing all day today, and when they got to the site the rangers turned them back because of the road conditions. So, taking advantage of a miraculous window in which none of our children were napping, eating or throwing a tantrum, we loaded the family up in the car for a snowy cross-town outing to a small local eatery and then to the hardware store to buy a tree. Instead of the free tree we'd planned on, we ended up spending a small fortune on a 10-foot tall farmed Frasier fir ("but Jason, it's beautiful and our ceilings in the living room are tall so we need a big tree!"). Right now it's drying off in our garage...when we put it up and decorate it tomorrow we'll post some pictures.

Peace is the World Smiling Over the River and Through the Woods

Over the past few weeks Logan's been singing a number of winter/world peace-themed songs that we never taught him, and we finally noiticed the entry on the school calendar for a "Winter Solstice Concert" and realized that his class must be practicing for the event. So we packed up the family tonght and headed over to Unity Church of Boulder for the concert. It was very sweet and Logan seemed to really enjoy the limelight. The video here is about 6 minutes and we love all of it, but you can get the idea after a minute or so. It's so much fun to think that Zach (who sat through the whole concert more or less patiently) will be in this next year.